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The Versions and Manuscripts.
(1) The Samaritan Pentateuch. This strictly speaking is not a version. It is written in
ancient Hebrew, being the oldest Hebrew MSS in existence. The characteristics of the
Samaritan Pentateuch point to the circumstances of II Kings 17: 24-41 for its origin.
The adoption of the square Hebrew letters of the Jews was partly because of their
antipathy to the Samaritans. This MSS is a most valuable check upon the veracity of the
existing Hebrew Books of the Law.
(2) The Septuagint. This version was made in Egypt by Alexandrian Jews, and it was
in common use a century before Christ. At the time of Christ, Greek was the literary
language of Palestine, Aramaic the spoken language, and Hebrew the tongue of the
Rabbis and Students. A large proportion of the O.T. quotations that are given in the N.T.
are from the Septuagint (generally abbreviated to LXX).
When the Jews realized what a powerful instrument this version was to the Christians,
they repudiated it and another was prepared by a certain Aquila. This is an exceeding
literal rendering of the Hebrew, so much so as to be sometimes unintelligible. It is
valuable, however, as it indicates clearly the Hebrew text he had before him. This
version is dated 150A.D. Another version by a Christian named Theodotion was
produced to off-set that of Aquila, but this version is very free in its rendering.
Theodotion's version of Daniel was so much better than that in the original Septuagint
that it took its place.
About 200A.D. a version was prepared by Symmachus.
"The special feature of this translation is the literary skill and taste with which the
Hebrew phrases of the original are rendered with good and idiomatic Greek" (Kenyon).
(3) The Hexapla of Origen. The great Alexandrian scholar Origen (168-253A.D.),
using these versions, produced his monumental work "The Hexapla" or the "Six-fold"
version of O.T. Scripture.
As a result of the quickened interest in the LXX, three further editions appeared, one
by Eusebius, one by Lucian and one by Hesychius.
Some Ancient Greek MSS.
We have already seen that the oldest Hebrew MSS goes back no further than eighth
century. The Greek Manuscripts fortunately go back much further, and of these the most
important are:
Codex Sinaiticus (4th century). Indicated by the Hebrew letter Aleph.
Codex Alexandrinus (5th century). Indicated by the letter A.
Codex Vaticanus (4th century). Indicated by the letter B.
Codex Ephraemi (5th century). Indicated by the letter 100:
The Cotton Genesis (5th century). Indicated by the letter D.